Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes



June 25, 1963 R. v. HIRST 3,095,000

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PAINT BRUSHES Filed Sept. 7. 1961 jTZ 1 2 Sheets -Sheet 1 will" I ll June 25, 1963 R. v. HIRST 3,095,000

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PAINT 3,095,000 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PAINT BRUSHES Raymond V. Hirst, 357 Euglewood Ave., Bulialo, N.Y. Filed Sept. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 136,481 11 Claims. (Cl. 134-164) This invention relates to apparatus for cleaning paint brushes as one phase in an overall process, and more particularly to a machine for simultaneously reciprocating a plurality of paint brushes up and down in a receptacle or pan of cleaning liqiud with the bristles of the brushes being forced against a submerged surface of the pan so as to spread the same and permit the cleaning liquid to work up into the interior of the bristles at the heel of the brush.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide such apparatus which cleans a plurality of paint brushes at the same time, but in which the holder for any particular paint brush can be easily rendered inoperative and moved to a position, without disturbing the operation of the apparatus on the remaining paint brush holders, in which this particular paint brush can easily be inspected, removed or replaced.

Another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus in which so rendering any one paint brush and holder inoperative it also substantially frees it from the reciprocating action of the apparatus so that the paint brush can be inspected, removed and replaced while substantially stationary with respect to the mechanism reciprocating the holders for the other paint brushes in process.

Another object is to provide such apparatus in which any paint brush can be not only rendered immobile with respect to the reciprocating mechanism but can also be brought to an inverted immobile position to permit convenient inspection of the bristles endwise from above.

Another important :object of the present invention is to provide such apparatus in which the time of treatment of any paint brush can be terminated when required, easyto-clean paint brushes requiring but a short treatment and heavily encrusted hard-to-clean paint brushes requiring a longer treatment.

Another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus in which the bristles of the normal paint brush are brought squarely against the bottom or other submerged surface of the pan to work the cleaning liquid up into the heel of the brush but which, in the event of an irregularly shaped brush or an unbalanced clogging of the paint bnush with paint, the brush is free to position itself in a manner best suited for the rapid penetration of the cleaning liquid into the heel of the brush.

Another object is to provide an extremely simple latch mechanism for so rendering any selected paint brush holder operative or inoperative with respect to the reciprocating mechanism of the apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple mechanism for adjusting the elevation of any paint brush holder to suit a particular size of paint brush and in which this adjusting mechanism can also be rendered immobile with respect to the reciprocating mechanism so that any one paint brush holder can be adjusted without disturbing the operation of the remaining paint brush holders.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple tes atent G spring clasp for the handle of a paint brush which not only yieldingly holds the paint brush handle inserted endwise, but also has shoulders which engage the body or head of the paint brush and serve as the force transmitting means for forcing the bristles of the paint brush against the bottom of the pan to spread the bristles and insure penetration of the cleaning into the heel of the brush.

Another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus in which any paint brush can be moved to and supported in an elevated draining position preparatory to removing the paint brush for the next stage of cleaning.

Another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus which is of rugged, simple and inexpensive construction and which will stand up under conditions of severe and constant use without getting out of order or requiring repairs.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a machine for treating paint brushes embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical fore-and-aft section taken generally on line 2-2, FIG. 1. In this view one paint brush and its holder is shown, in full, dotted and dot-dash lines, in various positions.

FIG. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken generally on line 3-3, FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical transverse section taken generally on line 4-4, FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing the means for releasing the arms carrying the paint brushes to permit of insertion, removal or inspection thereof.

The apparatus forming the subject of the present invention is shown as mounted on a table having a table top 9 supported at its corners by legs 10 and having an opening receiving and supporting a receptacle or pan 11 the upper edge of which is arranged above the surface of the table and the body of which is arranged largely below the table top and is supported on a heater as hereinafter described. This receptacle contains a body 12 of cleaning liquid, such as a detergent and water.

Side supports or standards 14 rise from opposite sides of the table top 9 and at their upper ends carry axially aligned holders or supports 15 for a horizontal rod 16 extending transversely of the machine above the center of the table. At their rear ends, these standards or side supports 14 carry alined bearings :18 in which is journalled a horizontal cam shaft 19 extending transversely of the machine parallel with the cross rod 16. This cam shaft 19 can be driven in any suitable manner as by the provision of a pulley 20 thereon driven by a belt and pulley drive, indicated generally at 21, from an electric motor 22 mounted on the table top 9. This electric motor is shown as protected by a housing 23 secured to the table top 9 and in turn supporting a part of the belt and pulley drive 21.

To the cam shaft 19 is fixed a series of spaced cams in the form of eccentric disks 24, the salient parts of which are out of phase with one another, alternate cams being shown as being out of phase, although any desired phase relationship can be employed, the phase relationship permitting diiferent paint brushes to be acted upon in different stages. These cams engage and act 3 7 against the under sides of the rear ends of rock arms 25. Each of these rock arms is journalled at its center on the cross rod 16 and these rock arms are held in proper s/paced relationship with reference to the cams 24 by spacer sleeves 26 and end collars 27 the latter being shown as secured by set screws 28 to the cross rod 16.

The rear ends of the rock arms 25 are held down against the tops of the cams 24 in any suitable manner, as by the garter springs 29 which embrace these arms and have their lower ends secured to the casing 23 for the motor 22 as best shown in FIGS. l and 2.

The paintbrushes are indicated generally at 30 and are of conventional form, having handles 31 of wood or the like projecting from an integral body or head 32 to which the bristles 33 are secured by a metal ferrule or sheath 34. An object of the invention is to remove as much of the hardened paint from the heel of the brush as is possible, this being the portion 35 at the ends of the bristles at their point of entry into the ferrule 34.

A feature of the invention resides in the attachment of the brushes to the forward ends of the rock arms 25 in such manner that they are maintained in substantially a vertical position with their bristles projecting downwardly and are forcibly brought against the bottom or other submerged surface in the pan 11 on their downward movement and at the same time can be quickly released from operative position for removal, replacement and inspection. To this end an arm 38 is pivotally secured by a pivot pin 39 to each rock arm 25 and projects beyond the forward end thereof, the pivot pins 39 being arranged adjacent to and parallel with the cross rod 16 so that these pivot pins have comparatively little movement. The arms 38 can be of any suitable form and are each shown as being in the form of a fiat metal strip the body portion 40 of which rests on the top face of the forward portion of its rock arm 25 and the forwardly projecting end 41 of which is twisted to provide a vertical forward extension carrying a pivot bolt 42 welded thereto as best shown in FIG. 4, these pivot bolts being arranged parallel with the cross rod 16. The rear end of each arm 38 is formed to provide knuckles 43 embracing its pin 39, this pin being secured to the top of its rock arm 25 by a hinge leaf 44 having a knuckle 45 also embracing the pivot pin 39.

During operation each arm 38 is latched against the top face of its rock arm 25 to oscillate vertically therewith and for this purpose the body portion 40 of each arm is shown as provided with a longitudinal center slot 46 above the forward end of its rock arm 25. A bolt 47 having a wingedhead 48 extends vertically through each arm 25, the winged head 48 being narrower in its transverse direction than the slot 46. Each bolt 47 has nuts 49 at its lower end, these nuts acting through a spring washer 50 which bears against the bottom of the arm 25 to hold the head depressed. It will accordingly be seen that each bolt 47 can be turned to bring its winged head 48 to a position in which its winged head is arranged transversely of the slot 46, as shown in FIG. 5, in which position the arm 38 is latched to the rock arm 25 by the winged head 48 and forms a rigid extension of this rock arm 25. Upon turning any bolt 47 to a position where its winged head is brought parallel with the slot 46, as shown in FIG, 6, it will be seen that the corresponding arm 38 can be lifted up from the forward end of its rock arm 25 and hence freed from the movement of the rock arm due to the fact that the pivot pins 39 for these arms 38 are arranged close to the fulcrum point of the rock arms 25 so that the continued rocking movement of these rock arms has little effect upon the released arms 38.

The paint brush handle 31 is embraced by two spring clamping or grasping members 55 each of which is in the form of a vertically elongated piece of spring steel having upper flat portions 56 which are arranged in face-to-face relation with each other as best shown in FIG. 4 and having diverging lower portions 57 the lower extremities of which are formed to provide channel shaped jaws 58 the channels of which oppose each other to embrace the handle 31 of the paint brush. The lower edges of these jaws converge upwardly, as indicated at 59, to permit the forceable insertion endwise of the paint brush handle 31 and the lower edges of these channel shaped jaws 58 also extend horizontally outwardly to provide shoulders or lips 68 which bear against the handle side of the head 32 of the paint brush 30, it being a feature of the invention that the bristles of the paint brush are forced downwardly against the bottom of the pan 11 and this force being transmitted through these shoulders 60.

The upper ends 56 of the paint brush spring clamp members 55 are provided with alined vertical slots 65 which permit of adjustment of the clamping members to suit different sizes of paint brushes and to insure their bristles being brought forcibly against the bottom of the pan 11. To this end, each pair of paint brush clamping members 55 is connected to a vertically elongated plate or strap 66 by means of a pair of bolts 68 carrying wing nuts 69, the bolts projecting outwardly from a vertical slot 67 in the plate or strap 66 through the alined slots 65 of the pair of paint brush spring clamp members 55. The vertically elongated plate or strap 66 is pivoted to the forward end 41 of its arm 38 by the pivot stud 42 welded to the arm 38 as best shown in FIG. 4.

A further feature of the invention resides in the ability to suspend the brush in an elevated draining position with reference to its rock arm 25. This is accomplished by the simple provision of a retaining slot 7 0 at the front end of each of the rock arms 25. This is in the form of a narrow vertical slot extending perpendicularly to the cross shaft 16 and is positioned to receive the divergent lower end 58 of one of the paint brush spring clamping members 55 and hold the same in an elevated position as best shown in FIG. 2.

In setting up the apparatus for operation, the several pairs of paint brush clamping members would be severally adjusted vertically to conform to the usual sizes of paint brushes being cleaned. Thus, the pair of paint brush spring clamping members 55 at the extreme left could be adjusted for the largest size of paint brush usually handled, this being accomplished by loosening the wing nut 69 and elevating the pair of paint brush clamping members 55 vertically to a position in which, when the longest length of paint brush 30 is inserted between their lower divergent ends '58, the bristles of this paint brush will be brouhgt into forcible engagement with the bottom of the pan 11 to spread the bristles as illustrated by one of the dotted line positions of the paint brush in FIG. 2 and thereby insure the cleaning liquid 12 being worked up among the bristles, particularly into the heel 35 of the paint brush. After being so positioned, the wing nuts 69 are tightened and thereafter no further adjustment is required for handling this longest usual length of paint brush.

The remaining pairs of paint brush clamping members 55 are similarly adjusted vertically to conform to smaller usual sizes of paint brushes handled, this again being effected by loosening their wing nuts 69, adjusting the paint brush clamping members 55 vertically the required distance and retightening the wing nuts 69.

If an unusual sized paint brush is encountered, one pair of clamping members 55 would have to be individually adjusted to that particular length of paint brush by again loosening the wing nuts 69, adjusting the pair of paint brush clamping members 55 longitudinally with respect to the supporting plane or strap 66 and retightening the wing nuts '69. It is a feature of the invention, however, that this adjustment can be made without interrupting the operation of the machine on other paint brushes in process, as hereinafter described.

The pan 11 is filled with the cleaning liquid 12, this being to a level which is at such point that the heads of the brushes are submerged when the brushes are forced to their full downward position. While any cleaning liquid can be used in the pan 11, it is desirable to use hot water and a mild detergent, the paint brushes having preferably been first steamed, that is, held in an atmosphere of hot steam, prior to the operation of the present apparatus in order to soften the paint and permit the bristles to be spread and the cleaning liquid 12 to be worked into the bristles.

To support the pan 11 and also maintain the solution 12 heated, the bottom of the pan is shown as supported on a metal open work frame 70 carried by a metal stand 71 and carrying a gas supply pipe 72 supporting a gas burner 73, this gas supply pipe also having the usual air mixer 74. The flames from this gas burner '73 heat the bottom of the pan 11 and are adjusted to maintain the solution 12 therein at the desired temperature.

In operation of the apparatus forming the subject of the present invention, the electric motor 22 is continuously energized and through the belt drive 21. is continuously rotating the cam shaft 19 and the cams 24 fixed thereto. Accordingly, the rock arms 25 are continuously being moved up and down about the cross rod 16 as a fulcrum, the cams 24 preferably being out of phase with one another so that only a part of the paint brushes are being forced against the botom of the pan 11 at any one time. The gas burner 73 at the bottom of the pan 1 1 also maintains the solution therein at the desired temperature.

In order to insert a paint brush 30 to be cleaned, the operator first seizes the winged head 43 of the bolt 47 associated with the pair of clamping members 55 which have been adjusted to conform to that length of paint brush. The operator then turns this winged head 48 a fraction of a complete turn to bring it into parallelism with the slot 46. The operator then lifts the arm 38, this arm fulcrumming about the pivot pin 39. This brings the paint brush clamping members -5 to an elevated position in which position the pointed handle 31 of the paint brush can be easily inserted endwise between the upwardly converging end surfaces of the opposing channel shaped clamping jaws 59 and the body 32 of the brush brought against the shoulders 60 at the ends of these jaws. After being so inserted, the brush handle 31 is held between these paint brush clamping members 55 by the spring pressure of these members.

The operator then swings the arm 38 downwardly against the top of its rock arm 2'5, the winged head 48 passing through the slot 46. The operator then gives this winged head 48 a fraction of a turn to bring it crosswise of the slot 46, this position of the parts being illustrated in FIG. 5.

With the winged head 48 so arranged crosswise of the slot 46 this arm, by virtue of the spring washer 50, be-

comes a rigid extension of the rock arm 25 and consequently as the rock arm 25 reciprocates, the bristles and head of the paint brush are worked up and down in the cleaning liquid 12 in the pan 11, and on each downward reciprocation, the bristles 33 are forcibly brought against the bottom of the pan to spread the bristles as illustrated by dotted lines in FIG. 2 and insure the cleaning liquid being worked up in the bristles particularly into the heel 35 thereof. This reciprocation of each brush is effected by its rotating cam 24 the salient part of which on movment of each paint brush is effected by its garter spring 29 which holds its arm 25 in engagement with the working face of its earn 24.

It will be noted that the pair of paint brush clamping members 55 are free to pivot about the pivot bolt 42. It has been found that this does not interfere with the action of spreading out the bristles of the paintbrush against the bottom of the pan 12, as might be expected, but instead provides a desirable action, particularly in cleaning paint brushes which are worn irregularly. Thus, the weight of the pendent paint brush 30 tends to keep it in a vertical position so that in descending it engages the bottom of the pan 12 squarely and effects a spreading of its bristles to procure penetration to the heel of the brush. If, however, the paint brush has been worn to have an angular contour at the working end of its bristles or if the paint loosens more quickly in one part of the paint brush than in another, the pivotal suspension for the paint brush permits it to move and dance around to a limited degree and adapt the action of the apparatus to the condition of the paint brush.

Any individual paint brush 30 can be removed, inspected and replaced without disturbing the operation upon the remaining paint brushes and during such removal, inspection or replacement, the paint brush is rendered substantially immobile with respect to the mechanism reciprocating the paint brush so that the paint brush can be inspected while in its substantially immobile condition and from the ends of its bristles. Thus, the operator can turn the winged head 48 associated with the paint brush to be inspected a partial turn so as to bring it into parallelism with the slot 46 and then lift the arm 38 to swing it upwardly about its pivot pin 39. The operator can then swing the clasped paint brush 30 to the inverted position shown in the upper left of FIG. 2 and in this position it will be noted that not only is the paint brush substantially immobilized with respect to the reciprocating mechanism of the apparatus, 'by virtue of the close spacing of the pivot pin 39 to the cross rod 16, but also that the bristles 33 can be easily inspected endwise from above. If the inspection shows more cleaning to he required, the brush is swung downwardly about the pivot bolt 42 and the arm 38 swung downwardly about the pivot pin 39 and the winged head 48 turned a part of a turn to clamp this arm 38 against the upper face of the forward end of the rock arm 25, this clamping being provided by the spring washer 50. This is the operative position of the parts and hence the apparatus continues to Work the paint brush up and down in the cleaning liquid in the pan 11 and against the bottom of this pan so as to penetrate the solution into the heel of the brush. If this inspection shows the paint brush to be adequately cleaned for this phase of the overall process, the paint brush 30 and its clamping members 55 are swung downwardly about the pivot bolt 42 and the lower or divergent end 58 of one of these clamping members is inserted into the end groove 70 of its rock arm 25 to be caught therein and held in an elevated position as illustrated in dot dash lines at about the center of FIG. 2. In this position, the paint brush will move up and down with the front end of the rock arm 25 but in a position elevated above the body of cleaning liquid 12 so that the excess liquid in the bristles of the brush will drain back into the body 12 of the cleaning liquid such drainage being facilitated by the up and down movement of the paint brush.

After the paint brush has drained to the required extent, the paint brush with its clamping,members 55 is swung forwardly out from the notch 70 and the treated paint brush is removed by simply pulling it out endwise from between its pair of clamping members 55. The handle 31 of a dirty paint brush of the same size can then be inserted endwise between the converging end faces 59, this pair of paint brush clamping members 55 and its head 32 brought into engagement with their shoulders 60 and the cleaning operation as above described continued with the succeeding paint brush.

The removed paint brush can be subjected to such further treatment as may be desirable, such as combing, soaking, shaping and drying, and at any stage in this process the paint brush can be returned to a preceding stage if such should prove desirable.

It will particularly be noted that While the apparatus acts simultaneously upon a plurality of paint brushes, any one paint brush can be conveniently removed, inspected and replaced without interfering with the action of the apparatus upon the remaining paint brushes of the apparatus and with the paint brush so being removed, inspected and replaced being substantially immobilized with respect to the reciprocating mechanism of the apparatus thereby to greatly facilitate such removal, inspection and replacement. It will also be noted that the same is true while any one subassembly is being adjusted to a particular length of paint brush, that is, the parts of the subassembly on which the adjustment is being made is substantially immobilized with respect to the reciprocating mechanism to be facilitated.

It will also be particularly noted that changing of the paint brushes is a very simple operation and that the holder of a clean paint brush can easily be caught in the notch 70 and held in an elevated draining position. It

will also particularly be noted that a diflicult brush can be processed for an extended length of time without interfering with the rapid replacement of brushes which are easy to clean, the time of treatment in cleaning paint brushes varying widely depending upon the degree of encrustation of the paint on the brush.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a paint brush holder above said pan holding the handle of said paint brush with its bristles suspended, downwardly facing shoulders at the lower end of said holder engaging the handle side of the head of the brush, and means reciprocating said holder vertically to bring said bristles forcibly downwardly against an opposed submerged surface of said receptacle to spread the bristles of the paint brush and admit said cleaning liquid tothe interior bristles at the heel of the paint brush, the force for so spreading the bristles of said brush being transmitted through said shoulders.

2. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a pair of vertically elongated paint brush holder spring clamping members arranged above said receptacle, means connecting the upper ends of said spring clamping members together, the lower end of said spring clamping members being yieldably embraceable with the upstanding handle of a paint brush and said lower ends having downwardly facing shoulders engageable with the handleside of the head of the paint brush to transmit downward A force of said spring clamping members to said paint brush body, and means reciprocating said spring clamping members forcibly downwardly against an opposed submerged surface of said receptacle to spread the bristles of the paint brush and admit said cleaning liquid to the interior bristles at the heel of the paint brush.

3. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a rock arm journalled to oscillate about a horizontal pivot and having one end projecting horizontally above said receptacle, an arm pivoted to said rock arm on an axis adjacent to and generally parallel with said horizontal pivot and extending along said one end of said rock arm, a paint brush holder mounted on the outboard end of said pivoted arm and holding said paint brush above said 8 mounted on one of said arms and projecting through a longitudinal slot in the other of said arms, and wherein a said winged head is of such transverse width and to pass through said slot when arranged parallel therewith.

5. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes as set forth in claim 3 wherein said mounting for said paint brush holder on one end of said pivoted arm includes means for adjusting the vertical position of said paint brush holder with reference to said pivoted arm.

'6. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes as set forth in claim 3 additionally including means releasably supporting said paint brush holder in an elevated draining position with reference to said rock arm.

7. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a rock arm journalled to oscillate about a horizontal. pivot and having one end projecting horizontally above said receptacle, an arm pivoted to said rock arm on an axis adjacent to and generally parallel with said horizontal pivot and extending along said one end of said rook arm, a paint brush holder swingably mounted on the outboard end of said pivoted arm to swing about an axis generally parallel with said horizontal pivot and holding said paint brush above said receptacle with its bristles suspended, means reciprocating said rock arm, and means releasably securing said pivoted arm to said rock arm whereby upon securing said pivoted arm to said rock arm the paint brush in said paint brush holder is reciprocated vertically in said cleaning liquid and upon releasing said securing means said paint brush and its holder can be released from the reciprocating action of said rock arm.

8. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes as set forth in claim 7 additionally including means on said rock arm engageable with said paint brush holder to releasably support said paint brush holder in an elevated draining position with reference to said rock arm.

9. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a rock arm journalled to oscillate about a horizontal pivot having one end projecting horizontally above said receptacle, an arm pivoted to said rock arm on an axis adjacent to and generally parallel with said horizontal pivot and extending along said one end of said rock arm, a pair of vertically elongated paint brush holder spring clamping members arranged above said receptacle, means connecting the upper ends of said spring clamping members together, the lower ends of said spring clamping members being yieldably embraceable with the upstanding handle of a paint brush, means pivotally mounting said spring clamping members on said pivoted arm to swing about an axis generally parallel with said horizontal pivot, means reciprocating said rock arm, and means releasably securing said pivoted arm to said rock arm whereby upon securing said pivoted arm to said rook arm the paint brush in said spring clamping members is reciprocated vertically'in said cleaning liquid and upon releasing said securing means said spring clamping members can be released from the reciprocating action of said rock arm.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9 additionally including means at said one end of said rock arm engageable with one of said spring clamping members to releasa-bly support said pair of spring clamping members in an elevated draining position with reference to said rock arm.

11. Apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, comprising a receptacle adapted to contain a body of a cleaning liquid, a rock arm journalled to oscillate about a horizontal pivot having one end projecting horizontally above said receptacle, an arm pivoted to said rock arm on anaxis adjacent to and generally parallel with said horizontal pivot and extending along said one end of sald rock arm, a vertical supporting pla'te pivotally mounted on the outboard end of said pivoted arm to swing about an axis generally parallel with said horizontal pivot, a paint brush holder adapted to hold said paint brush above said receptacle with its bristles suspended, means adjustably connecting said paint brush holder to said supporting plate for 'vertical adjustment 5 of said paint brush holder with reference to said supporting plate, means reciprocating said rock arm, and means releasably securing said pivoted arm to said rook arm whereby upon securing said pivoted arm to said rock arm the paint brush in said holder is reciprocated vertically in said cleaning liquid and upon releasing said 10 securing means said paint brush and its holder can be released from the reciprocating action of said rock arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 83,230 Weber Oct. 20, 1868 1,318,981 Donley Oct. 14, 1919 1,800,151 Pearson Apr. 7, 1931 2,239,741 Schroder Apr. 29, 1941 2,449,818 Olsen Sept. 21, 1948 2,744,635 Hiss May 8, 1956 

1. APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PAINT BRUSHES, COMPRISING A RECEPTACLE ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A BODY OF A CLEANING LIQUID, A PAINT BRUSH HOLDER ABOVE SAID PAN HOLDING THE HANDLE OF SAID PAINT BRUSH WITH ITS BRISTLES SUSPENDED, DOWNWARDLY FACING SHOULDERS AT THE LOWER END OF SAID HOLDER ENGAGING THE HANDLE SIDE OF THE HEAD OF THE BRUSH, AND MEANS RECIPROCATING SAID HOLDER VERTICALLY TO BRING SAID BRISTLES FORCIBLY DOWNWARDLY AGAINST AN OPPOSED SUBMERGED SURFACE OF SAID RECEPTACLE TO SPREAD THE BRISTLES OF THE PAINT BRUSH AND ADMIT SAID CLEANING LIQUID TO THE INTERIOR BRISTLES AT THE HEEL OF THE PAINT BRUSH, THE FORCE FOR SO SPREADING THE BRISTLES OF SAID BRUSH BEING TRANSMITTED THROUGH SAID SHOULDERS. 